Francois Hollande is a 'formidable war machine with deep hatred of Nicholas Sarkozy'

François Hollande’s affable exterior belies a “formidable war machine” who
privately referred to rival Nicolas Sarkozy as a “bastard” during his
campaign for the French presidency, according to an acclaimed young novelist
given exclusive access to the Socialist leader.

Francois Hollande said he regretted visiting Britain ahead of the French election.Photo: AFP

7:00AM BST 17 Aug 2012

Laurent Binet, winner of the prestigious Goncourt prize for a first novel, was given carte blanche to follow Mr Hollande in the months leading up to his presidential victory to pen a literary political portrait. This new Gallic genre was initiated in 2007 when playwright Yasmina Reza produced a controversial literary account of Mr Sarkozy’s electoral campaign.

In Rien ne se passé comme prévu (Nothing Happens As Predicted), extracts of which were published in LeNouvel Observateur magazine yesterday, Mr Hollande is described as a “formidable war machine optimally configured to reach his goal”, who despite his apparently easygoing nature has a touch of “megalomania.” He also shown to display at times ferocious animosity towards Mr Sarkozy.

In one extract of the book, out next week, Mr Hollande is watching a political show on TV in which Mr Sarkozy bitterly complains that a top Socialist figure got away with comparing him to financial fraudster Bernie Madoff, “who as far as I know got 183 years in prison". Mr Hollande is cited as exclaiming: "But you will too".

In another Mr Hollande’s girlfriend, Valérie Trierweiler, poses a "strange question" to his inner circle as they travel by plane to Paris after his presidential victory. She asks, "At this moment of accomplishment, which person does it feel like a personal revenge against?" The author writes: "One said a past girlfriend, another an ex-colleague. Hollande said simply 'Sarkozy'."

In an interview in Le NouvelObservateur, Mr Binet said Mr Hollande regularly referred to Mr Sarkozy as a 'bastard' in "a totally calm manner."

In the book Malek Boutih, now a Socialist MP, describes Mr Hollande as a “mystery” man who "doesn't exist" and has "completely depersonalised" himself to fit his office – the opposite of Mr Sarkozy.

In one admission of bad judgment, Mr Hollande regrets speaking to the British press before his London visit. "The mistake was talking to an English newspaper. And going to London. That trip was pointless. Everyone focuses on the international (stage), but in a French presidential election, that's never where things are played out."

Mr Binet will have a tough task to better Miss Reza's sales of 220,000 for her work on Mr Sarkozy, which depicts him as touchingly childlike, but also cruel, contemptuous, and sentimental. In it, he refers to Ségolène Royal, his Socialist rival candidate, as a “pauvre conne” (stupid cow) who has “lost the plot,” but he says he is unsure whether “the fact that she’s useless is necessarily a handicap in France.”

L’Aube, Le Soir ou la Nuit (Dawn, Evening or Night) received critical acclaim but Mr Sarkozy reportedly found it hard to swallow, despite telling the author: “Even if you demolish me, you will make me greater.”